The BURGER Loft — Restaurant in Town of Clarkstown

Burgers are good, however, service is lacking. At least 3 times my family and I got rejected for service because it was supposedly "too late." First time, I called and asked what time they close and they told me 9pm (on a weekday). We got there at about 8:20pm and they said that they were closed. When I mentioned that I had just called a few minutes prior and was told that they were still opened until 9pm, the guy told me that it was slow so they decided to close earlier, and he rudely declined service. Next time, I called again on a different day (Saturday night) and was told they close at 10pm. After picking up my son from work, we arrived at 9:31pm to grab a quick bite and we were told that the kitchen closed at 9:30pm and the guy tells us that we're "a minute too late." Then he asks if we wanted something to go, but we wanted to dine in and they refused to let us sit and eat because the kitchen was supposedly closed, yet, they would take our order if it's to go. So which one is it? Is the kitchen closed or is the dining room closed? Meanwhile, the restaurant was full of customers and they declined us. We like to support local businesses as we are locals, but this business right here has the wrong employees on staff. Natalia, Denise, & Nikki are the lazy ones running the front and denying service to patrons because they're more worried about closing up on time & going home than providing quality service to the customers. Hopefully, this review will reach the owners so that they are aware of what's really going on when they're not around. I can't imagine how much business they must lose annually by denying customers service when they feel like closing up shop. Furthermore, the owners should take a little more pride and patch up major things that needs repair, such as the largely cracked glass of the front door, the ripped seat cushions, and the door in the back that leads to the outdoor seating slams shut, since the soft close mechanism does not work, which means you can lose a finger if it slams on you. With the right staff & needed repairs, this place...

This place definitely had good food and burgers but I do not think I will be back. The reason? The front of the house in this restaurant is not maintained to a level where I feel confident that cleanliness is a focus which is disconcerting when I think about what happens behind the scenes.

What specifically did not sit right with me were a few things, starting with the odor when you first come in the door which is not of grilling hamburgers as you might expect but of mop water and cleanser. The second thing that put me off were the visibly dirty benches in the dining area where you can clearly see strains and oily spots from previous dining experiences and there were also many spots walking to our table where a chunk had been knocked out of the wall or paint gouged which is really visible white against the blue paint color on the walls and no repairs made. Some of these things I observed I really only consider 'less than ideal' but in concert with the last item this is what really sealed the deal for me not going back until some changes take place and that is the swarm of gnats that came out with the food. My family spent the entire meal having to swat bugs away from their meals and it was not 1 or 2 it was actually quite distracting and we are not really squeamish but almost got up and left at that point.

The service was good and the burger which I both inspected in light of the rest of my experience and honestly ate warily was also very tasty but I cannot get over all of the observations pointing to a lack of focus on cleanliness and maintenance. My family and I will not eat in a restaurant where we question "how clean is the kitchen if it is like this in the dining area?". If management addresses this and takes it seriously I would gladly give the loft...

Had the chicken club, was a little disappointed when the server mentioned that it didn't come with sides and that side are extra, at that price i definitely assumed it would come with fries at the very least. Ive worked in a dozon restaurant that i hand cut and prepared fries that were given away for free with every meal. After my first bite of the club i was less upset about the price and lack of sides. It was very tasty and the dill was such a great flavor addition. Only reason i gave 3 stars for atmosphere is because one table was letting their 3 or 4 toddlers run around the restaurant screaming and jump on the booths and occasional crying fit then back to turning the place into a jungle gym. I know it's hard to be polite about telling someone to take control of their children and be parents but screaming children running around with their sticky selfs tripping on everyone feet they run past is the last thing i want when im trying to enjoy my lunch break. Good thing i wasn't drinking because i would have been very rude to those parents for disrespecting the restaurant and treating it like...